Timeline: Historical Scope from the 19th Century to the Present
1801—Thomas Jefferson is elected President of the United States Population of the United States is 5.3 million, with 1 million being of African decent 1803—April 30, Louisiana Purchase finalized. President Jefferson asks Congress for funds to take an expedition to the Mississippi River and beyond in search of a route to the Pacific Ocean. 1804—May, Meriwether Lewis and William Clark depart on their expedition to the Missouri River and the Western U.S. November, Jefferson is re-elected president. 1808—James Madison is elected President of the United States 1812—War of 1812 1820—Missouri Compromise is passed, admitting Missouri as a slave state and Maine as a gree state. The compromise also prohibited slavery in the remainder of the Louisiana Purchase north of 36/30 degrees north latitude. ' 1824'—John Quincy Adams is elected President of the United States 1828—Andrew Jackson is elected President of the United States 1835—The state of Texas declares independence from Mexico November 30, Samuel Clemens (Mark Twain) is born in Missouri 1834—The combine harvester is invented in the U.S. by Hiram Moore 1836—Martin van Buren is elected President of the United States 1844—First telegraphs message sent from Washington D.C. to Baltimore 1848—Zachary Taylor elected as President of the United States ' 1852'—''Uncle Tom’s Cabin by Harriet Beecher Stowe is published Franklin Pierce is elected President of the United States '''1854'—Kansas-Nebraska Act repeals the Missouri Compromise 1856—James Buchanan elected President of the United States 1857—Albert Bierstadt, famous great plains artist, takes an expedition through the American West that will inspire his later paintings of the great plains landscape 1858—Gold first discovered in Colorado, inspiring westward settlement growth 1860—Abraham Lincoln is elected President of the United States December 20, South Carolina secedes from the union The American Civil War begins 1862—The Homestead Act is passed, giving freehold title to 160 acres of undeveloped land in the American West The Morrill Act is passed, setting public lands aside for state colleges across the country 1864—Sand Creek Massacre; American troops killed hundreds of Cheyenne Indians American Civil War ends April 14, Abraham Lincoln is assassinated 1868—Ulysses S. Grant is elected President of the United States 1869—Union Pacific Railroad extended through the Great Plains 1870—15th Amendment to the constitution is passed, allowing black citizens the right to vote 1873—December 7, Willa Cather is born in Virginia. Custer defeated, 250 soldiers killed. 1875—Jim Crow laws enacted in Tennessee Civil Rights Act passed 1876—Battle of Little Big Horn; General Custer attacks a camp of Lakota, Cheyenne and Arapaho Indians along the Little Big Horn River in Montana The Adventures of Tom Sawyer ''by Mark Twain is published Zitkala-Sa born in South Dakota '''1885'—''The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn'' by Mark Twain is published in the U.S. 1887—The Dawes Act is passed; the act is intended to dissolve Indian reservations by forcing Indians to live on small family farms. Each family received 160 acres of reservation land. 1889—Land Rush; 50,000 settlers compete to claim two million acres of land made available in present day Oklahoma. The Dawes Act had taken the land away from Indians. 1890—Drought and crop failure cause many settlers to leave the great plains region December, Battle of Wounded Knee; American troops kill 200 Native American women and children 1898—Spanish American War 1900—''The Wizard of Oz '' by L. Frank Baum is published 1901—Theodore Roosevelt is elected President of the United States 1902—February 1, Langston Hughes is born in Missouri 1906—The Enlarged Homestead Act is passed in the U.S. congress, allowing ________ 1908—William Howard Taft is elected President of the United States 1910—April 21, Samuel Clemens (Mark Twain) dies 1914—World War I begins in Europe 1917—United States enters WWI 1918—''My Antonia'' by Willa Cather is published World War I ends 1925—''The Professor’s House'' by Willa Cather is published 1928—First regularly scheduled television service in the U.S. begins 1929—U.S. Stock Market crashes, the Great Depression begins 1931—Great Depression reaches a low point. Almost 25 percent of Americans are unemployed 1932—Franklin D. Roosevelt is elected President of the United States 1936—''The Plow That Broke the Plains'', a documentary chronicling the Great Plains region during the Dust Bowl, is released. 1938—January 26, Zitkala-Sa dies in Washington, D.C. ' 1939'—''The Wizard of Oz'' movie premieres in the U.S. based on the 1900 novel by L. Frank Baum World War II starts in Europe 1941—Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor, Hawaii; U.S. declares war on Japan 1945—World War II ends 1947—April 24, Willa Cather dies in New York City 1952—Dwight Eisenhower is elected President of the United States 1956—Telecasts of the Wizard of Oz movie begin in America 1960—John F. Kennedy is elected President of the United States 1968—Richard Nixon is elected President of the United States 1969—Woodstock music festival is held in New York 1973—Vietnam War Ends Richard Nixon resigns 1974—''Little House on the Prairie'' TV series premiers 1984—''Footloose'' movie released; the movie followed the life of a rural Oklahoma town and its decision to enact, and then repeal, a ban on dancing and rock music. 1992—George Clinton is elected President of the United States 1996—''Twister'' movie released; the film depicted a team of storm chasers trying to gather data on a tornado outbreak across Oklahoma. 2002—Ted Kooser, a native of Iowa and longtime Nebraska resident, becomes Poet Laureate of the United States. 2006—''Friday Night Lights'' TV series premieres; the show depicts a small town in West Texas and the rallying of the community around high school sports.